


100 years

by HarisaEnaja



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, Merlin is a selfsacrificing idiot, maybe a little out of charracter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 20:32:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7522156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarisaEnaja/pseuds/HarisaEnaja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin makes a deal he thinks will protect Arthur and Camelot for the next 100 years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	100 years

Merlin had done it. He had finally done it! He’d figured it out; figured out how to fulfill his destiny, how to protect Arthur and all the rest of Camelot. And if he was lucky,(really, really lucky), it might even be a way to show Arthur once and for all that magic could be used for good.

If fact, he was surprised he hadn’t been able to think of it earlier. It solved all of their problems, tied them up in a neat little bow and made it so that everyone won.

The only hitch had been finding Morgana and getting her to agree. Merlin had searched for the witch and her entourage for nearly a week before finally finding her. When he’d waltzed into the ruined castle she was occupying and asked for an audience, she had been suspicious but happy. She probably assumed he had come to defect from Arthur. Or was just thinking about ways to kill him, which tended to make her happy too. When he’d told her that he was really Emrys, and a sorcerer, she’d looked like she was going to have a stroke.

After that there had been some difficulty calming her down enough to hear him out, but when she finally did she agreed to his deal much quicker than he had anticipated. Merlin had expected her to whine, or try to haggle terms. Instead she just smirked with an evil anticipation as she shook his hand, their magic flowing together to make a binding contract. They had agreed to meet in three days’ time at the ancient standing stones to fulfill the terms of the agreement.

Three days. Merlin only had three days, one of which he’d spent on the journey back to Camelot. It would take nearly another day to reach the stones, so that gave him only one day in Camelot. One day to talk to Arthur.

As the brilliant white spires that had become his home over the years loomed into sight above the treeline, Merlin debated with himself if he should even tell Arthur. It would be easier not to. Merlin knew how he would react; in a word _-badly_. But in his heart, Merlin knew that he had to tell the king the truth; that Arthur had to understand what was happening. He would be furious at first, but maybe over time he would start to see it as the blessing it was. Maybe over time he might even be able to forgive Merlin.

Night had fallen by the time he entered the city and no one paid much attention to him. Some of the other servants smiled welcomingly and called out his name as he passed, and Merlin returned their greetings warmly but did not stop on his way to Arthur’s chambers. When he slipped inside the kings room he immediately noticed that everything was spotless, cleaned to perfection.

So, George had taken over his duties while he was gone, then. That was good. George was good. At least Merlin knew that Arthur would be taken care of in that aspect.

Just then Arthur came barreling into the room, freezing in place when he saw Merlin. Then his face slipped into an angry frown.

‘ _uh, oh_ ’ Merlin thought. ‘ _Well, this isn’t starting off like I’d hoped_.’

“ _Mer_ -lin!” Arthur yell, stomping over so that he was within striking distance of his manservant “Where the hell have you been! You’ve been gone for over a week! A whole week! Gaius said you were in the tavern but then after a few days Gwaine went and searched every tavern, and do you know what he found? No Merlin!”

“Why is it always the tavern?” Merlin asked himself calmly, only serving to irritate Arthur further “I’ve told Gaius a hundred times to use something else, but it’s still always the tavern.”

“ _Merlin_.” Arthur hissed dangerously. “Where. Were. You.???!!!”

“Why? Where you worried about me?” Merlin asked with his usually cheeky grin.

“Of course I was! You were gone a whole week!” Arthur let slip, to both of their surprise. The king’s cheeks colored a little as he tried to save the situation. “I’ve had to put up with George for a whole week! Of course I was worried that I’d get stuck with him permanently.”

Merlin laughed out loud, even though he was genuinely touched by Arthur’s obvious concern. The king rarely let his affections show, even when they were in private.

“Ohh, god forbid you have to suffer the torture of a clean room.” Merlin teased “I swear, sometimes I think you like living like a pig in a sty. Now I’ve got the proof.”

He started to walk out of the room without thinking, so used to his normal routine of insult and retreat.

“Merlin.” Arthur’s voice, now calm but still as deadly, stopped him halfway to the door and reminded him why he had come up there in the first place.

“Alright.” He sighed in defeat. “Alright.”

Merlin walked past Arthur and sat down in the king’s favorite chair by the fire (ignoring Arthur’s disapproving look). He rested his knees on his elbows and rubbed his hands hard across his face trying to gather his thoughts. He should have waited and done this in the morning after he’d had some sleep, but there was no putting it off now.

“I was…” Merlin started “Well, I was…. And you have to promise not to freak out about this….”He said pointing to Arthur.

“No promises.” The king said darkly. Merlin sighed again.

“Fair enough. Fine, I was meeting with Morgana.”

“You were what?” Arthur asked, not in the yell Merlin had expected but like he truly hadn’t heard him the first time, or hadn’t believed his ears.

“I was meeting with Morgana.” Merlin said again.

“You were meeting with Morgana…..”Arthur echoed, with a bit of a laugh.

Boy, this was going to be a long night.

“Yes.” Merlin snapped, too tired to deal with Arthur’s disbelief. “I proposed to make a deal with her, a deal which she so happened to accept.”

“ _You_ made a _deal_ with _Morgana_?”

“Yes.”

“Merlin, you know you’re one of the worst liars I’ve ever known” Arthur said factually “Really, you have to come up with some better lies than a ‘deal with Morgana’! I understand that you might have been off doing something embarrassing, but you needn’t worry about getting in trouble.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “It’s not a lie!”

Arthur snorted.

“Fine then,” He said with a humoring tone. “What are the terms of this ‘deal’?”

“One Hundred years.” Merlin told him, an excited and joyful look crossing his face. Arthur hadn’t seen Merlin look that excited about anything before. “One hundred years of peace and protection for you and all of Camelot. One hundred years without monsters or curses or magical assassins. One hundred years without Morgana attacking, or harassing or pestering you. Don’t you see Arthur? This solves everything!”

“What?” Arthur questioned weakly. Merlin was starting to scare him.

“I know one hundred years doesn’t seem like a lot,” Merlin continued animatedly “but it will certainly cover the rest of your reign and your children’s reign, maybe even most of your grandchildren’s reign. And yes, one hundred years from now your descendants will probably have to deal with Morgana, but that’s the beauty of it! They’ll have one hundred years to figure out a way to beat her, one hundred years to come up with a fool-proof plan to finally stop her. But in the meantime, Arthur, you and generations of your family will be protected by the strongest of magic. Finally, you’ll be _safe_.”

Merlin was looking at Arthur with an incredibly triumphant grin on his face that made Arthur’s skin crawl. There was something very, very wrong here. Yet Arthur couldn’t define it exactly. His scrambled brain caught on to one word at the end of Merlin’s speech.

“Magic?” the king gulped.

The smile slid off Merlin’s face. Of course that was the only thing Arthur had heard, not the- your kingdom will be safe for generations- part. Merlin had made a mistake by mentioning the magic, he had hoped to ease Arthur into the idea, but it was too late now.

“Yes. Magic.” He admitted. Too nervous to continue sitting, Merlin jumped up and walked over to the window. He refused to face Arthur as he continued: “I found the spell by accident. See, I was looking into the Doracha and trying to figure out how exactly Morgana opened the veil. I think I found it, and in the same book there was another one that works as a powerful protection spell. Once it’s cast, the spell will protect a person or place from future magic for roughly one hundred years.”

“A well trained high priestess of the old religion might be able to break the spell and while Morgana’s nowhere near that strong yet, she could figure it out at some point. Her powers are still growing. Thus why I had to meet with her…. Thankful, she’s agreed to hold off on trying to take back the kingdom while the spells still in place. Obviously the problem that’s left is you’d still be vulnerable to non-magical attackers, but I think I’ve figured that out too. See, I’m going to cast a strong protection ward around the city, and add some more to the one’s I’ve put on your armor…”

“ _You’re_ going to cast” Arthur interrupted hoarsely.

Merlin turned around to face Arthur and had to fight back the swell of emotions that pulled at him when he saw the king’s expression. Arthur was pale white with shock, his eyes big and round and his body tense like it was paralyzed in-between lungding for him and fleeing. But the worst thing was the utter horror, like Arthur was watching a hellish nightmare he hadn’t even realized he was afraid of come to life.

“Merlin?” Arthur called out to him. He sounded like a broken child pleading for the other man to refute him, to convince him he’d heard wrongly.

Merlin wanted to put him out of his misery, he wanted to explain that he would never, _ever_ hurt Arthur. He wanted to reassure him that none of it mattered anyway because in less than two days, Arthur would never have to be scared of magic again. He would never have to be scared of anything again.

“Are you saying….”Arthur gulped and straightened up, as if suddenly remembering he was the King of Camelot. He held his head high as he asked “Are you confessing to sorcery?”

Merlin opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to figure out the perfect thing to say. After a little while of nothing coming to him, he simply nodded.

“Guards!” Arthur shouted, but a little too quietly. His voice was still dry and hoarse. “GUARDS!” He tried again, and this time two men came charging into the room looking for the emergency.

“Arrest the sorcerer.” Arthur commanded, his eyes never leaving Merlin. The guards actually looked around the room for a moment, before finally taking the hint and seizing Merlin by the arms. He didn’t resist. In fact, Merlin looked like he had been expecting this.

As the guards escorted Merlin from the room, He turned back over his shoulder to look his king in the eyes one last time and said;

“It’s okay, Arthur. Don’t worry, I’m going to make everything better. I’m going to make sure your _safe.”_ He offered the King one last reassuring smile before he was taken away to the dungeons.

Once alone, Arthur collapsed into his favorite chair and hide his eyes behind his hand. Despite Merlin’s promises, he didn’t feel like things okay. In fact, he was sure that things would never be okay again.

 

* * *

 

 

Merlin sat in his cell all night. Several people had come to see him, to comfort him and reassure him that this was a mistake and that it would be cleared up soon. Gwen had burst into tear and run from the room when he told her the charges were true.

Gaius had understood almost immediately what he had done, and why he had done it. After all, Gaius had been his only confidant for so long that he understood what had driven Merlin to this decision. He didn’t necessarily like it, but he understood it. And after a few attempts to change Merlin’s mind, he gave up. He understood it was hopeless.

It was lucky that all the knights who had been close to him where out on a long patrol for at least another few day. He could only imagine the fit Gwaine would have when he learned what had happened.

So Merlin spent his last day in a cell, playing with the straw on the floor and counting the tiles. And yet, there was nowhere else he’d rather have been. He’d written a letter to his mother, apologizing, and given it to Gaius to deliver. He’d said his goodbyes to the Physician and Gwen. He only wished he had said a little more to Arthur, done more to convince him that Merlin was doing the right thing. But in the end it was probably for the best that they left things the way they did. If he saw Arthur again, then they both might say something they didn’t mean.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Around noon Arthur came marching into the dungeons only to stop and glare at Merlin through the bars. Merlin smiled back at him. Despite trying his best to reassure himself earlier, it was good to see the King one more time.

They just stared at each other for a time, neither braking the silence.

“Why would she agree?” Arthur demanded at last. He looked irritated with himself that he had broken down and voiced the question.

“Who?”

“Morgana.” Arthur replied irritably “Assuming you were telling the truth yesterday, why would Morgana agree to leave Camelot alone for one hundred years?”

“She’s a high priestess, they mastered ageing a long time ago” Merlin explained. “Morgause would have past those spells along. Morgana could probably live for the next thousand years and not age a day if she wanted. One hundred years is really not that long to wait for someone like her.”

“But why would she agree? What’s in it for her?”

“Oh,” Merlin nodded, suddenly understanding what Arthur was asking. “I agreed to let her be the one to perform the spell. That way she knows for sure the deed is really done.”

“Why would Morgana want to cast a protection spell over me and Camelot?” Arthur asked curiously.

Merlin was silent for a few moments, trying to figure out the best way to explain it. Gaius had understood immediately, but Arthur didn’t know anything about magic, he really didn’t understand…..

“Magic is a system of give and take” Merlin described, watching Arthur’s face very carefully as he spoke. “You can’t just get something for free, you have to pay for it. And the bigger the magic, the higher the price. This protection spell is very big magic, so it requires a pretty heavy price. A sacrifice really….”

Arthur still didn’t get it. He shook his head disbelievingly “You expect me to believe Morgana would be willingly to sacrifice anything for me….”

“No,” Merlin corrected “Morgana’s not giving the sacrifice, she’s going to be the one taking it.”

“Oh for god’s sake!” Arthur shrieked with irritation “Will you just speak plainly! Enough of these riddles!”

“Me!” Merlin yelled back, and a little bit of his own fear crept into his voice. He’d been doing a pretty good job of not thinking about what was required to perform the spell, but then the prat had to go and ask all the right questions. “The sacrifice required to complete the spell is my life, my very soul. Morgana agreed to preform it because then she would know for certain that I was really dead and unable to fulfill the prophecy of her doom. Plus, I think she’s just really looking forward to driving a knife through my heart.”

Silence echoed through the dungeons.

“You?” Arthur whispered at last. He was staring at Merlin with that horrified look again, and once again Merlin had to look away.

“From what I can tell the spell works by taking the soul of the caster and ripping it up into tiny little pieces. Pieces that it then repurposes to protect the subject of the spell, which would be you. What actually happens is I meet Morgana at the isle of the blessed, say a few magic words, she puts a knife through the center of my heart, my soul gets dragged out of the hole by the spell, then scattered into a million different pieces.”

“You’ll die.” Arthur stated deafly.

Merlin chuckled, he couldn’t help it. Understatement of the century!

Arthur glared at him.

“Why should I believe you?” He snapped at his former manservant. Merlin just gave him a sad, but indulging smile.

“I’m not asking you to. Believe me, don’t believe me, I don’t care. It’s not like it matters anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, since the day I got here I have been fighting tooth and nail to keep you alive Arthur Pendragon! Some days more successfully than others. I have nightmares almost every night and do you know what they’re about? Not burning on the pyre, oh no, I stopped fearing my own death a _long_ time ago. Every night I dream about _your_ death! I dream about failing you, or not getting there in time to save you, or even making the wrong decision and accidently _causing_ your death. I have had to watch almost everyone I’ve ever loved _die_ and I lay awake at night worried _you_ will be next. Well I’m sick of it! I won’t watch you die too, _I won’t do it_!”

“So now I’ve finally figured out a way to keep you safe, really and truly _safe_. Nothing is going to stop me from completing that spell. _Nothing._ So help me Arthur, you are going to live a long, happy life even if it kills me.”

“So that’s it then? You’ve decided?” Arthur hissed “Don’t I get a say in this? It’s my life after all!”

Merlin actually laughed out loud, which only served to irritate the king more.

“Oh, Come on Arthur!” Merlin laughed. He brought his arms up and gestured around the room. “Look where I am? I’m a sorcerer! An evil, lying, traitorous _sorcerer_! Are you really telling me you wouldn’t trade the life of one sorcerer for one hundred years of peace and security throughout the kingdom? For the assurance that your children can grow up without fear? My life doesn’t matter! By your own laws I’ll be dead by the end of the week anyway. At least this way, I can say I died protecting my king rather than died by his hand.”

Arthur was silent as he processed the words. Yes, for a brief moment, he had forgotten about Merlin’s sorcery. But this raised a new question in his mind.

“Do you expect me to just let you go so you can perform this ‘spell’? Do you really think me that gullible? Wait, don’t answer that.” Arthur really didn’t want to know how gullible Merlin thought he was. After all, he had deceived him for almost ten years.

“I’m the most powerful sorcerer that has ever lived or ever will.” Merlin said softly, gesturing to the bars in-between them. “Do you really think you can hold me with just a bit of iron?”

Despite Merlin’s tone, fear prickled up Arthur’s spine and he had to take a step back. The action looked like it physically pained Merlin, but at least Arthur now understood where everything lay.

“If that’s true, and I seriously doubt it is.” Arthur spat ferociously, “Then why would you still be here? Why not escape last night? Why even come back to Camelot at all?”

“I wanted to say goodbye.” Merlin said honestly.

Arthur took a couple steps back, shaking his head. He was desperately looking for a way out of what Merlin was telling him.

“No. No you’re a liar!” He shouted. “You’re just trying to escape justice for your crimes! Even if you are telling the truth about the spell, then you should know better than to think I would _ever_ accept the help of magic! I can protect my own kingdom just fine!”

“Arthur,” Merlin interrupted him. “Gwen’s with child.”

Arthur’s blue eyes flew up to meet Merlin’s as his mouth fell down in shock.

“W-What?”

“You’re going to be a father” Merlin beamed at him, pure pride on his face as he looked at his king.

“But…Gwen would have told me…..” He muttered.

“I don’t think she knows yet.” Merlin said “She’s only a few weeks along, but I can sense it.”

“With your magic.” Arthur accused.

Merlin nodded.

Arthur collapsed back against the stone wall, a shaky hand covering his mouth. He was completely overwhelmed.

“I-I can’t…..”

“It’s okay.” Merlin whispered soothingly. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you.”

The worst bit was that Arthur believed him. He always believed Merlin when he took that tone, the one that told him believe in himself and to trust in his destiny. A child changed everything, and Arthur was sickened to realize that Merlin’s one hundred years was suddenly looking very good.

He couldn’t stand it any longer, couldn’t stay in Merlin’s presence one more second, so he pushed himself off the wall and nearly ran from the room.

As he left, he just barely heard Merlin whisper:

“It’s a girl.”

 

* * *

 

 

Arthur was standing in his chambers staring out the window, lost in his thoughts, when Gwen came in.

“Arthur?” She called softly, walking over and running a hand soothingly along his arm. He debated with himself on what to say, but finally broke down.

“Merlin says you’re pregnant.” Arthur sighed. Gwen gasped and her hands flew to cover her stomach instinctively. She ran a callused hand over the flatness with wonder.

“How does he know?” She questioned softly.

“Magic.” Arthur spat back, hating the word and all it was responsible for. He didn’t want be able to know about his child even before Guinevere. Finding out he was going to be a father should have been the happiest day of his life. Instead it was one of the worst. He hated himself for considering the temptation Merlin had provided, the temptation to make sure that his child was protected for the rest of her life. Hated that he was tempted to give in to magic.

“I had suspected.” Gwen muttered with wonder, still stroking her belly. “But it’s still so early. There is no way to tell….” Her face suddenly grew dark as she frowned. A single tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

“Guinevere?” Arthur asked worriedly, turning to her and taking her hands in his.

“I’m sorry,” She said, wiping away the tear “it’s just… well, I had always pictured….”

“What?” Arthur probed, concerned.

“I always pictured that with our first child, Merlin would be there.” She admitted, her brown eyes looking up into his blue. “I’ve seen how kind he can be playing with the children in the lower town. I used to imagine him playing like that with our children. It just hit me that that will never happen. They’ll never even meet him.”

Her words hit Arthur like a brick to the face.

Merlin wouldn’t be around to see his children. Merlin wouldn’t be around to give him advice on parenting or to be a target to throw things at when things got too rough. Children were messy (or so he’d been told) and Merlin wouldn’t be around with his amazing ability to get stains out of anything (although now that he thought about it, that had probably been magic). Merlin wouldn’t be around to curb or redirect his anger, and Merlin wouldn’t be there to lift his spirits with jokes. He wouldn’t be in any of their futures because either way this ended, he would be dead. Either by Morgana’s hand or by Arthur’s in fulfillment of the law.

Fuck the damn law.

Arthur _needed_ Merlin to be there. Sorcerer or not, there was no way he was letting the lazy fool skip out on diaper duty.

Arthur was out the door and running down the hall before he could even comprehend the colossal extent of his decision. Gwen watched him go, a smile on her face.

 

* * *

 

 

Arthur was literally shoving his own guardsmen out of the way in order to get down into the dungeon.

“Merlin!” He started screaming, well before he was even within earshot of the warlock’s cell. “Merlin!”

“Merlin! Forget about the law.” Arthur huffed as he finally got to the cell where Merlin had been staying “I don’t care, and I don’t care about one hundred years. I care about….” Arthur trailed off as he realized the cell was empty.

“Merlin?” He called out again, this time tentatively. A knot of horror was welling up in his stomach as he fumbled around with the keys to get the cell open. He could already see inside from the outside, but he desperately rustled through the loose hay on the floor, praying for a clue.

But there was nothing.

Merlin was gone.

And Arthur knew where he was headed.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun was just rising over the horizon when Merlin reached the court yard in the center of the ruins. The fog was thick and billowed around ominously.

Morgana arrived about an hour later.

“Emrys.” She greeted coldly. She was dressed not in her usual black, but instead a beautiful flowing red dress that reminded him of something she would have worn in the old days. Her hair too, was brushed and tucked away in neat braids rather than its normal rats nest.

“You look nice.” Merlin complemented dryly. She shrugged with a little smirk.

“Well, you know, special occasion. It’s not every day you get to kill your doom.”

Merlin snorted.

“Let’s just get this over with.” He sighed, but Morgana was looking at him speculatively.

“Are you really going to do this?” She asked curiously. “I could sense your honesty when we shook hands, but are you really ready to die? Are you really ready to abandon Arthur?”

“I’m not abandoning him!” Merlin snapped. “It’s better this way. He’s better off without me.”

Morgana laughed mercilessly with glee.

“Fine then. Shall we begin?” She said drawly an enormous knife with a jeweled handle out of her sleeve.

Merlin nodded and began chanting. The words of the old religion rolled off his tongue and as his eyes glowed gold as the magic flowed up to answer his call. He thought about all of the people he loved, his mother, Gaius, Gwen, the knights, the future princess, and the people of Camelot, adding them under the protection of the spell. But mostly he thought of Arthur. He thought of all the little moments were it had just been Arthur and him, hunting or on a quest or even just in Arthur’s chambers. The spell answered him by promising extra protection.

When it was done, he glance over to see Morgana grinning with anticipation. He walked over and lay down on a stone alter in the middle of the court yard.

Morgana circled him once, like a shark circling its prey, dragging her fingertips almost tenderly across his cheek as she pasted. Once she had gone around once, she climbed up onto the alter and straddled him, raising the knife high in the air with both hands.

“Any last words, Emrys?” She cooed maliciously.

Merlin opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a heart shattering yell echoed through the fog.             “Merlin!”

Both Morgana and Merlin froze where they were and turned toward the sound. The speaker was still far enough away to be hidden by the fog, but they could just make out a silhouette sprinting toward them.

“Was that…..?” Morgana questioned, looking at Merlin.

“Arthur?” Merlin called back, confused. Just then, the king burst through the fog.

“Merlin!” He screamed again, this time with alarm. His eyes grew wide at the sight of Morgana straddling his manservant with a raised knife (It was wrong for sooo many reasons). He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at his sister.

“Get off of him Morgana.”

“Why, brother mine, have you come to watch?” She cooed, one hand reaching down to stroke Merlin’s face again in some twisted parody of affection. Merlin sat up on to his elbows and looked at his king.

“What are you doing here?” He asked Arthur, concerned. He thought that Arthur had finally understood, that he finally got why Merlin had to do this. It was what was best, for everyone.

“You can’t do this Merlin.” Arthur pleaded, almost forgetting about Morgana all together. “I won’t let you. I don’t care about the next one hundred years, we’ll get through it, like we always do. We can take whatever is to come. You don’t have to do this!”

“What are you saying?” Merlin asked.

“Yes, Arthur, what _are_ you saying?” Morgana hissed, annoyed.

“I’m saying I want you to come _home_ , Merlin!” Arthur implored the other man. “I want you to be there to guide me through matters of state and the heart and god knows, diapers! I you to be there to help keep my temper in check when suiters start coming after my daughter hand and I want you next to me on every future battle field. One hundred years is not worth your life.”

“But… you’d be safer…” Merlin protested.

“Since when have you ever known me to care about safety?!?!?” Arthur interjected with exasperation. “Merlin, if I die a week from now it will be worth it because that’s one more week I would have had you at my side.”

“But, I’m a sorcerer! I have magic!” Merlin tried again “The law says….”

“Don’t you listen, you idiot! I don’t care about the law! I’ll change the bloody law! The _law_ didn’t sit up with me all night when my father died, the _law_ wasn’t there taking back my kingdom with me, twice! _You_ were!”

“You’ll change the law against magic?” A quiet voice whispered. It took Arthur a moment to realize it wasn’t Merlin who’d spoken, but Morgana. She was looking at Arthur with utter amazement at shock, a few small tears running down her cheeks. Arthur’s mouth hung open, fully registering for the first time how much this woman looked like the sister he used to love.

But then Morgana’s face hardened over, back into the mask she had been putting up for so long. The was a little bit of a regretful smile on her face as she realized that Arthur’s change of heart had come much too late to save her. She was already doomed to follow the path she’d started down.

With that thought in her head, she turned to look at Merlin.

“I’m so sorry, Merlin.” She said, almost sweetly.

Both the King and warlock realized what she was going to do a fraction of a second before she did it.

“NO!” Arthur screamed as Morgana raised the knife again and plunged it downward. Merlin tried to roll out of the way, but Morgan’s knees were pinning him, preventing him from going far. The blade missed his heart, but pierced his flesh and buried itself in between his ribs.

He cried out in pain and the magic he’d had built up shot out of his body, launching Morgana away from him and into the mist. Arthur heart a sickening crunch as she hit something stone, but could not see for all the fog. He had more important things to worry about anyway.

He ran over to the altar and immediately pressed his hands into Merlin’s flesh around the handle of the knife.

“Merlin, can you hear me. Merlin?”

Merlin groaned painfully, and it was one of the most beautiful sound Arthur had ever hear.

“can still….do spell….” Merlin muttered, half coherent.

“No Merlin, forget about the damn spell!” Arthur ordered “Heal yourself. Do you hear me, idiot? I’m ordering you to heal yourself with magic!”

Merlin blinked up at the king.

“you…..sure?” He mumbled, half in disbelief.

Arthur let out a strangled laugh.

“Yes, you buffoon! I am your king, and I gave you a direct order! I expect you to follow it!”

A small smile lit up Merlin face, which was growing paler by the second. He then reached up and pulled out the knife, which left Merlin’s body with a horrible squelch.

Then Merlin’s eyes glowed bright gold.

It was wondrous. Beautiful. _Magical_. Arthur watched the wound under his hands shrink and knit back together, and wondered how he had ever been afraid of something as miraculous as this.

When it was done, Merlin sighed like he was exhausted and the only thing left as evidence of his wound was the blood still smeared across his torso and Arthur’s hands. The still bloody fingers gently traced the new skin and the small white scare that was left.

“Did you mean it?” Merlin asked, dragging Arthur away from his inspection. “You really want me to come home?”

Arthur looked at Merlin for a few seconds before seizing the other man by the shoulders and crushing him into a deep bear hug.

“Yes. I meant it. Every word.”

“What about Morgana?” Merlin asked gesturing at the fog were she most likely still lay unconscious.

Arthur sighed “We’ll deal with her tomorrow. For now, let’s go home.”


End file.
